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Posted: Feb 16, 2012 11:57 AM
Updated: Mar 5, 2012 3:24 PM

Thirty-eight students of the Bossier Youth Leadership Program visited facilities of the Bossier Sheriff's Department Feb. 14 as part of their tour of government and law enforcement. The students are juniors from all six Bossier Parish high schools who have displayed leadership traits to be in the program.

The day started for the students when they visited the Bossier City Council chambers and heard from leadership from the Bossier City Marshal's Office, Bossier City Police Department and the Bossier Sheriff's Department. They also sat in on a court session with Bossier City Judge Tommy Wilson. The group then toured the Bossier Maximum Security Facility and heard first-hand from an inmate what it's like to be incarcerated. The inmate, who says he's wasted 23 years of his 40 years in prison because of drugs, crime and bad choices, encouraged the students to "make right decisions before you get to where I am." The students also toured the North Louisiana Criminal Justice Academy, learned what it takes to be on the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and witnessed a K-9 demonstration.

Juniors from all six high schools in Bossier Parish who have demonstrated leadership abilities can become members of the program, which is sponsored by the Bossier Chamber of Commerce and the Bossier Parish School Board. The program is intended to develop and strengthen the students' leadership skills.

Photo above left: Deputy Jeff Smith, sniper with the Bossier Sheriff’s Department’s SWAT team, shows students the functions of a .50 caliber bolt action rifle.

Major Kesha Harris, assistant Chief of Corrections for the Bossier Sheriff’s Department, explains to juniors from Bossier Parish high schools the reality of life in a jail and what it’s like to be “locked up” in a corrections facility.

Thirty-eight students of the Bossier Youth Leadership Program pose with some of Bossier Sheriff’s Department’s finest on the K-9 team – “Jessie,” a black Labrador Retriever narcotics dog, and her handler, Lieutenant Ron Glovier (left front), and “Billy,” a Belgian Malinois narcotics and apprehension dog, and her handler, Deputy Eric Wikstrom.